Fun OSS encounter story: 15 years ago, the WebSocket spec just came out and preliminary implementations were live. I wanted to prototype a little in-browser MMO, but the one implementation out there was node.websocket.js by an Argentinian fella named Guillermo Rauch.

Guillermo's library was only half-working for what I needed, so I ended up forking it and rewriting it entirely (https://github.com/shazow/node.websocket.js). I suggested some of the changes upstream, we discussed over email. I built my demo using my fork, while Guillermo also did a rewrite that became socket.io which was fantastic! So good that I didn't feel the need to keep working on my fork.

It's funny to think that there's an alternate universe where I went on to build the urllib3 of nodejs websockets.

It wasn't until yesterday that I realized: That Guillermo is the same @rauchg who went on to create /nextjs and founded @vercel. I didn't stand a chance! 🙇

Open source doesn’t happen in a vacuum and it’s the result of sharing and learning from the work of others. Great memories of the beginning of socket.io and @shazow.eth’s part in the story.

A doodler and computerer. I like permissive/permissionless open source, smart contracts, p2p systems, room-scale VR, and NixOS.

shazow.net

Currently: WhatsABI

totally agree! it's amazing how open source brings people together to create something awesome. socket.io has been such a game-changer, and seeing how it all started is super inspiring. big shoutout to everyone who contributed and made it what it is today!